The Thing from the Storm Shock
by mcmario
Summary: Something arrives at Handlers Corner through a storm shock and It's hungry. Meanwhile, Zoom learns to deal with his team mates after the events of Carrier. (Sequel to Carrier)
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! Here is the sequel to Carrier. It's pretty short. Ill post it in two parts. Sorry for the long wait and thanks to everyone who reminded me that I said I would do this haha. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hot Wheels Battle Force Five. If I did, bla bla some witty comment. **

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><p>"Zoom, what is the matter with you?!" Vert huffed in annoyance as Zoom, for the third time that day flinched at Vert's casual touch.<p>

At first Vert didn't really notice. Zoom's injuries were the obvious reason Zoom didn't want any contact with others. But as time went on, and Zoom's injuries started to heal, it became apparent that Zoom didn't want any one touching him.

And okay, Vert could understand personal space, but the occasional brush against his arm in the hallway sometimes couldn't be avoided and it was baffling for Vert to see Zoom jump away in nervousness.

Zoom was looking sheepishly at the ground, scratching the back of his head.

"Uh, it's nothing Vert. Sorry, just lost in my own head. You startled me" Zoom wouldn't look into Vert's eyes, which had Vert worried.

"Is there anything wrong? You know you can talk to me" Vert soothed, placing a hand on Zoom's shoulder.

Zoom glanced at the hand resting there and forced a smile.

"Really, I'm okay"

He ducked from under Vert and walked quickly away.

Vert watched him leave, concern written all over his face.

**XXXXXX**

"What is with Zoom lately anyway?" Spinner asked, looking around at the group at Zeke's diner.

The team had decided to meet at the diner for a slice of pizza. Zoom had declined to come, opting to stay in his dojo and gain his strength back after his period of healing time.

"It's like he's annoyed with us or something" Agura said while the rest of the group nodded.

"Or afraid" Vert added.

"It's obviously got something to do with what happened two months ago." Sherman suggested.

Spinner rolled his eyes, "You think bro? And about that. What was the story again? That some virus affected everyone except him and he also just so happened to fall down the stairs? Please. Like any of us believe that"

"And what happened to his Chopper? Thing is all banged up." Sherman added.

Stanford nodded while inspecting his slice of pizza. "I think we ought to corner the chap and get his story straightened out" he suggested, taking a bite.

The table murmured in agreement.

"Come on guys, I know we are all curious about what happened, but I don't think we should corner the guy. He should be able to tell us what really happened when he's ready" Vert said, trying to calm everyone down.

"He seems okay around Sage" Stanford mused, chewing slowly.

"He actually seems to spend a lot of his free time with her lately" Agura agreed. "Maybe we should try and see if we can get anything else out of her first"

As everyone agreed, the conversation turned to more casual topics, and the team got on with their dinner.

**XXXXXX**

Outside, lurking in a dirty corner was a mass of darkness with no defined figure. If anyone were to look directly at it, it would somehow shift into nothingness. As if it was there but not. It wasn't familiar with this place. It had somehow come to be in the area after strange weather from its home.

It had been aimlessly floating around the desert for over two weeks now, slowly starving and looking for a way home when it happened across a structure.

It had sensed food nearby and now watched the group inside the diner with interest. It could taste their confusion and annoyance earlier on and liked it. Craved it. It had been too long since it last fed.

As the group stood up, gathering their things to leave, the thing slipped up to the exit.

Vert lead the way out of the Diner towards their messily parked rides. A chill swept down his spine and he suddenly stiffened. Something felt wrong. He glanced around The Diner car park which was growing dull in the fading light. He thought he saw something dark clinging to the wall but as he turned it faded away.

The group's chattering quietened as if they sensed a change in mood as well.

"Vert?" Agura asked softly, looking around also.

The thing watched them standing around in silence, trying to find what was causing them unease. As it bathed in their presence, The Darkness was overwhelmed with a hunger so great it had to actively calm itself so as not to start feeding immediately. It wanted them to last. Their unease made them smell that much better.

Unable to stop itself, The Thing opened its gaping hole of a mouth and tasted the leader's aura.

Without warning, Vert saw a flash and Zoom was in front of him. He grabbed Zoom's shirt and slammed him forcibly against the garage wall.

Vert blinked and stepped back in shock only to find the team looking at him in concern. He was back in the car lot.

"Vert? What's wrong?" Agura asked again, putting a hand on his back as Vert breathed heavily, looking at his hands.

Vert shook his head to clear it. He didn't understand what he just saw or the flash of anger he felt.

He looked at his team who were waiting expectantly for an answer he couldn't provide. They clearly hadn't seen anything so he put it down to feeling tired.

Vert sighed, shaking off the uncomfortable feeling. "Nothing. C'mon, let's get out of here" he said, climbing into his Sabre.

The Thing grinned happily at the unexpected surge of anger and licked its lips delightedly. Yes, the leader tasted good. It slipped unnoticed underneath Vert's car, sticking to its underside and awaited patiently at the thought of tasting each member of this group and not having to worry about starving to death over the next few weeks until it could return home.

**XXXXXX**

Zoom glanced up from the T.V. as the team returned home from Zeke's. He smiled at them but they seemed a little distracted.

Shrugging he looked back at the show that was on. Zoom could tell the team was getting frustrated with him. He knew they noticed his discomfort around them, try as he might to hide it. He was starting to get exhausted trying to go about his daily routine without arousing the team's suspicions.

He wished he could just forget the past like his friends and move on. He was just getting up to go and talk to Sage about it when Vert called out from the kitchen.

"Hey Zoom?"

Zoom instead walked to the kitchen to see what he wanted.

"We saved you some pizza. It's on the table" Vert said, smiling tightly.

Zoom nodded his thanks and sat down to eat. He wasn't that hungry but he didn't want to be rude.

He was a few bites in when he noticed Vert was still in the kitchen watching him with a strange look on his face.

"Uuh, something wrong?" Zoom asked, smiling uncomfortably.

Vert seemed to snap out of his daze and shook his head, laughing embarrassedly.

"Sorry, was zoned out there. I'm gonna head up to bed. Enjoy the pizza, Grace sends you her regards." He said and promptly left the room.

Zoom finished his pizza more slowly, contemplating Vert's odd behaviour.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team crowded into Sage's office to ask her again about Zoom's odd behaviour.

Vert walked in as Spinner was saying "Can't you just tell us what happened?" stomping his foot a little childishly.

Sherman glanced down at his big brother, silently telling him to calm down with a pat on the back.

Sage sighed and turned to face them from her computer. "You will have to wait for Zoom to tell you. It is not my place to say and I do not want you to hassle him. Just leave him be and he will soon let you know."

"It's not fair that he is allowed to keep secrets from us! Back home, no one would dare do this to a member of the Royal Family!" Stanford complains with a huff at the end.

"All I can tell you is that some things did happen that he has not told you and so you should be careful not to pester him about it less it..." she pauses to find the right words, "-upsets him"

Vert sighed. He knew she was right and nodded at her. The others thanked her and turned to leave.

Zoom walked up the stairs, heading to bed himself, to find the rest of the team filing out of Sage's office looking put out.

"Alright Zoom?" Stanford said. It seemed a little forced.

Zoom rubbed his arm self consciously, worried that they were trying to get answers out of Sage.

"Yeah, just heading to bed" He replied, thinking of the repairs he still needed to do to his Chopper. Most of the damage the team had done to his bike all those weeks ago was pretty superficial, and Zoom had to wait for his injuries to heal before he could really fix it. Now he was almost better, he could polish it off over the next day or so.

Agura nodded, deciding to sleep as well.

They exchanged their goodnights and headed their separate ways.

**XXXXXX**

The Thing was hidden in the huntress' room, watching her as she climbed under the covers.

She shivered unknowingly at its presence. Before long however she fell asleep, and The Thing silently descended upon her to feed.

Zoom awoke suddenly in the darkness of his room. He glanced at his clock which read 1:13 a.m.

He wondered what could have woken him up until he heard the sound of someone groaning in the room next to his. He crept out of bed, going to check on Agura.

Her door was open a crack and he peeked through. She was thrashing around in her bed, seemingly having a nightmare. For a moment he thought he saw something in the room, hovering above her.

He pushed his way into the room, fear for his team mate surging in his gut. Something was in there with her!

Although the moment he entered, whatever he saw was gone. Confused he glanced around the dark room. Must have been a trick of the light...

Agura was still rolling in her bed. There was a thin layer of sweat over her face and she was shaking.

Zoom hurried over to calm her, whispering her name softly.

She suddenly snapped her eyes open and jack-knifed into a sitting position. Unaware of her surroundings she lashed out at the first thing she saw which was unfortunately Zoom.

The punch had him falling to the floor backwards, gripping his nose and bumping his head.

He groaned and rolled forward onto his knees, never letting go of his nose, and blinking away stars.

Agura was gulping in air desperately and squinting through the dark down at Zoom.

"Zoom? What are you doing in here!?" she yell whispered.

"Urgh. You were habing a nibmare" he said through a bleeding nose. He was still reeling from the look Agura had given him when she first awoke. He hadn't seen her look like that since the virus.

"Are you alright?" She asked, concerned. She looked to be calming down now.

"I guess" Zoom replied, standing back up.

"Let me clean it up" She said, crawling out of bed and wiping her face with shaky hands.

She took his free hand and led him to her bathroom adjoining her room. She sat him down on the closed toilet and fished through her cabinets for some first aid supplies.

Zoom looked down at his hands as she crouched down and started mopping up the blood from his face.

"I am so sorry Zoom" she said softly as he winced from the dabbing.

"S'okay" he murmured, feeling stupid for not being able to block the punch in the first place. "What were you dreabing about?" he asked curiously.

Agura didn't answer straight away and just looked at him strangely for a minute. "I don't remember" she said slowly.

Zoom somehow doubted her but shrugged a little, letting it slide.

"This may be broken Zoom..." she said apologetically.

"Ob course" He said as she finished her dabbing and got some medicine for the pain.

"It doesn't look crooked though which is good. Just rest this ice pack on it and let me know if you are having trouble breathing through it when the blood clears up"

"Right" Zoom got to his feet and began to leave but Agura stopped him.

"Thank you Zoom. For trying to help" She said and watched as he left back for his own room.

She stood there a moment longer, a crease in between her eyes as she remembered her shockingly vivid nightmare. She had been standing over Zoom smacking him in the face and screaming obscenities at him as he clearly struggled with the pain. But instead of feeling compassion she only felt hate and would hit him again and again.

She had no idea why she would dream such a horrible thing, but what scared her most was that when she woke up and saw Zoom hovering over her, all she wanted to do was beat him to death. Unfortunately a punch had gotten away from her before she could calm herself down enough to think normally again.

She got back into bed feeling miserable and worried. It took her hours to get back to sleep that night.

The Thing was perched in the darkest corner of the room, eating all of the negative aura in the room greedily. It had never tasted such a lovely mixture of pain and suffering before. Somehow each member of this group seemed to have some kind of delicious memories of hate hidden away inside them just waiting to be unlocked and gobbled up. The Thing was more than willing to help and perhaps, if it played its cards right, it could live here, feeding of these beings forever.

**XXXXXX**

Zoom stared at his reflection in the mirror the next morning. A bruised nose and two black eyes were very obvious additions to his face. Agura was one strong lady. His face _hurt_. He shook his head and went down stairs for some more medicine to prepare for his day at the garage.

As he entered the kitchen Vert glanced up from his cereal then promptly dropped his spoon.

"What _happened?_" he got up and tilted Zoom's face up so he could inspect the damage.

Zoom inadvertently flinched again at Vert's quick movements.

Vert froze, and slowly took his hand away, looking a mixture of apologetic and annoyed.

"It's a bit of a long story" Zoom said quickly, trying to cover up the uncomfortable moment.

Vert purposefully folded his arms so he wasn't tempted to touch Zoom again but still looked at his face.

Zoom shifted and shrugged one shoulder.

"Agura was having a nightmare last night and when she woke up she accidentally hit me" he summarised quickly.

Vert grimaced in sympathy. "Ouch. Here I'll get you something for the pain. It looks really sore"

"Thanks" Zoom said, helping himself to some cereal.

Vert plonked down next to him and handed over some pills to take the edge off. They both ate in silence until Sherman walked in.

He looked extremely tired.

"Everything alright Sherman?" Vert asked concern in his gaze.

Sherman looked over at the two of them and nodded briefly.

"Didn't sleep well" He said, then noticed Zoom's face. His eyes widened comically and he whispered "Who did that to you?"

"I did" Agura said as she entered the kitchen herself.

Sherman looked as though someone had slapped him in the face.

Agura laughed a little at his expression and quickly explained what happened. She left the details of her nightmare out Zoom noted.

Sherman sat opposite Zoom and stared at him longer than necessary.

Zoom sighed and looked up eventually, unable to ignore the stare any longer.

"Are you alright?" Sherman asked him, as though he had gone through some traumatic experience.

Zoom frowned slightly. "Yeah Sherman, I'm fine"

Vert looked from Agura to Sherman.

"Weird that you both slept so badly. How come you didn't sleep well Sherman?"

Sherman looked at Agura and shifted away from her slightly. "I had nightmares too"

"Do you want to talk about it?" Vert asked as Zoom downed the pills and got up to leave.

Zoom nodded goodbye to everyone as he left to get to work on the Chopper. Everyone knew that's what he was up to today. He could feel Sherman's eyes on him as he left.

He vaguely heard Sherman start to answer Vert, but didn't really hear anything as he made his way over to the garage, shaking his head at his weird behaviour.

**XXXXXX**

After several hours of banging the dings out of the Chopper and replacing some parts, Zoom's head was beginning to pound. He just had some minor touches to finish to the bike, but overall it was working again. He sighed happily, cleaning his hands on a relatively oil free rag. He was glad to have his bike back.

He decided to call it a day and turned to make his way back to the Hub.

By the time he entered the Hub his head was killing him.

Spinner bounded over to him cackling "Is it _true?_! Did Agura actually break your face?"

Zoom groaned inwardly. He wasn't really in the mood to joke around with Spinner.

"Yeah, she did Spin" Zoom replied, heading to the kitchen for more pain pills.

Spinner held his belly and laughed long and hard, bent over double. He then had to jog to catch up to Zoom, apparently not finished yet.

"Look at your eyes! Like a cute little panda!" he said, reaching out to pinch Zoom's cheek.

Zoom swatted the hand away, this time remembering not to flinch.

"Spinner!" a shout was heard across the room.

Sherman was storming over and he looked pretty angry.

Zoom panicked. Why was Sherman angry? Had he contracted the disease again?

Zoom backed away frantically, putting the kitchen table between him and the other two.

But instead of being attacked like he thought was about to happen, Sherman instead cuffed Spinner upside the head.

"Leave Zoom alone" he said angrily.

"Hey! _Ow!_ Chill bro! I was just having a bit of fun!" Spinner whined, rubbing the back of his head.

Sherman turned to face Zoom with an apologetic look on his face.

"Are you alright, Zoom?" he asked softly.

Zoom was panting slightly from the rush of adrenalin, his head pounding in time with his heart.

Zoom was confused at this strange interaction. Why was Sherman being so protective?

Zoom nodded. "Fine. He didn't mean any harm." He tried to defuse the situation. Spinner was always giving him a hard time, what's new? Why would Sherman suddenly storm to his defence?

But Sherman would have none of that. His look of apology turned to one of concern.

"Why are you hiding behind the table?" He asked, beginning to walk around it.

Zoom forced a laugh out. "I'm not _hiding_" he said, silently kicking himself for being so weak. He reached out to hold the back of the chair as his legs started to feel a little wobbly. He noticed his hand trembling slightly.

"What's the big deal bro? He's _fine_." Spinner said exasperatedly.

And with that, Zoom collapsed.

**XXXXXX**

"You're nothing!" Vert spat at him, raising his crowbar above his head. He swung down hard, snapping Zoom's arm in an instant. The rest of the team descended upon him, beating him wherever their fists could reach.

The terror and pain were agonizing and when Zoom woke up to Sage's frantic voice, he screamed in fear. He backed up to the headboard of the infirmary bed, holding up his hands to ward away any attacks.

"Calm down Zoom!" Sage called, holding her hands up in a placating gesture, her eyes wild with worry.

It took a few moments, but eventually Zoom came to himself and realised where he was.

"What happened?" he asked breathlessly.

Sage, seeing that he had calmed, walked over to him and smoothed his hair back soothingly.

"You appeared to be suffering from some form of flash back. I had been trying to wake you for five or so minutes" she explained worriedly. "was it about the virus?"

Zoom nodded, trying to push himself up on trembling arms. Why did he feel so weak now?

"Why am I in here?"

"You collapsed. Sherman said you were trying to put distance between yourself and them. He didn't understand why. He said you looked really pale and frightened."

"I guess I haven't been hiding it as well as I'd hoped" Zoom confessed to sage, looking away and flushing red.

"Zoom," Sage gently cupped his cheek and turned it so he was facing her. "You aren't dealing with this situation well. They all know something happened, and it is clearly still bothering you. It may help to talk about it with them" she urged him.

Zoom sighed, suddenly noticing his headache again.

"Do you have any pain pills? My head is killing me" he said, eyes pleading with her to drop it.

Sage's head drooped slightly in defeat, letting it go for now.

"Okay, I'll get you something now"

Zoom left the infirmary soon afterwards, giving Sage a hug in gratitude.

He was heading up to his room when he got a strange feeling that he was being watched.

He checked behind him, only to see nothing out of the ordinary.

When he turned back around, he was suddenly face to face with Sherman.

Zoom jumped in fright, taking one quick step back, uncomfortable with the proximity.

"Heya Sherman" Zoom said with forced cheer.

"Zoom, I was coming to see if you were okay?" He looked more worried than before.

Zoom laughed, "I feel like that is all you have asked me today, buddy" He said.

Sherman didn't say anything, just waited for a proper answer.

Zoom sighed in defeat. "I guess I over did it today in the garage" he muttered to him, kicking his foot at some imaginary dust on the ground.

Sherman didn't look convinced. "Can I talk to you a minute?"

"Sure?" Zoom said, curiously following as Sherman turned to lead him to his room.

The Thing watched as one of the smallest beings followed the biggest one down the hall way.

The Thing liked that small one. There was so much turmoil writhing within him. It followed the two, hoping for another taste.

Sherman opened his bedroom door and held it open for Zoom to enter first. He then closed the door behind them.

"What's up?" Zoom said, turning in the tidy bedroom to face Sherman.

"Zoom. I want you to tell me why you are so afraid of us" Sherman cut to the chase.

Zoom felt like he had been winded. He sat down on Sherman's neat bed and started fiddling with his fingers.

"I'm not afraid of you" he said unconvincingly.

Sherman sat down next to him, putting a comforting hand on his back.

Zoom squirmed slightly and Sherman took his hand away.

"See Zoom? This is what I'm talking about. You can barely stand to be around us, you hate being touched, you scare easily. What's wrong? Did we do something wrong? Did we hurt you?"

Zoom couldn't meet Sherman's eyes, but something in Sherman's voice made him want to.

"Zoom." Sherman crouched down in front of him to try and meet his gaze and Zoom gave up, finally looking. Sherman's eyes were wide and watery.

"Zoom. I had this dream last night. A nightmare. It seemed so real though..." Sherman stood up and began to pace, wringing his hands.

"What happened?" Zoom asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"In the nightmare, I was in a battlezone with everyone. And I was watching..." He paused, wiping a hand down his face in distress.

"I was watching Agura hit you into the ground. A-and I was just watching, letting it happen. And for some reason I wanted her to keep hitting you because I thought you d-deserved it." He trailed off, now him being the one who couldn't meet Zoom's eyes.

Zoom's chest was tight. Was the team beginning to remember what happened on their own? Was it just Sherman?

"Zoom, I asked Agura and she had the same nightmare but from her point of view" Sherman continued. "Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me we didn't do that to you Zoom!" Sherman pleaded, turning back to look him in the eye once more to see Zoom's shiny with pent up emotion.

"Zoom? Say something" Sherman insisted.

Zoom couldn't do it anymore. Perhaps Sherman finding out was for the best, he thought. Maybe things will get better if everyone knew. And not really seeing anyway to deny it, Zoom just gave up and nodded, looking at the floor as a lone tear escaped his eye.

He quickly wiped it away, feeling as though the atmosphere in the room was getting darker and heavier.

Sherman strode over to Zoom and lifted him into a tight firm hug. Zoom swallowed tightly, letting Sherman hug him. He didn't know what to do now. If Sherman knew, everyone would soon know.

He waited for Sherman to let go, fighting the urge to push him off, still uncomfortable at the contact.

"I am so, so sorry" Sherman murmured.

Zoom was beginning to feel suffocated. He didn't want pity and he didn't want everyone to feel bad. He just wanted everyone to get over it and he just wanted to get out of this _room!_

Thankfully, Sherman finally let go and Zoom stumbled to the door, pulling it open and staggering out. He fell against the wall, catching his breath.

Sherman followed him out, concern all over his face.

"What's wrong?"

Zoom groaned, making his way to his own bedroom. "Nothin, just need some rest" he murmured, ignoring Sherman's questions which followed after him. He landed onto his bed and promptly fell asleep, unexplained exhaustion taking over.

The Thing gleefully followed the small one who was giving off waves and waves of distress. The Thing knew it was mostly It's own doing. Part of The Thing's feeding habits exacerbated the negative emotions within the victim, but this small one was particularly juicy. It would drain this one a little more before moving onto the other beings. It could feel Itself becoming so much stronger than It had ever felt before. It loved this world and its delectable occupants.

It entered the small one's room and opened It's hole of a mouth and began to feed immediately.

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><p><strong>Mkay, the next part will be up in a few days. I hope you like this. Let me know in the reviews. X<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the reviews and for reading guys! Here is part 2. Hope you like it. I was never the best at endings.**

**Disclaimer- I dont own Hot Wheels Battle Force 5.**

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><p>Sherman rounded everyone up in the living room while Zoom went to bed.<p>

"What's the matter Sherm?" Vert asked, sensing his serious mood.

"I think I'm starting to remember what happened. Kind of." He said, meeting Agura's concerned eyes.

"Does this have something to do with the dream you and Agura both had?" Vert asked. He remembered their conversation in the morning and started to feel dread in his belly.

At this point, Stanford chipped in with a pout "What is everyone talking about? What dream? Why am I out of the loop?!" he huffed. Spinner nodded in agreement.

Sherman rolled his eyes. "Last night I had a nightmare, and so did Agura. Only I don't think they were nightmares. I think they were memories. We were all being really horrible to Zoom. I mean, like, Agura was hitting him across the face type horrible..." Sherman said, glancing and Agura who had gone very pale and ashamed.

"I think we caused Zoom's injuries for some reason. He pretty much confirmed it. I just don't understand why!" Sherman muttered.

Vert put his hands on his head. "It would explain why he doesn't want us touching him..." he said, remembering his own little 'flashback' out in the car park. "I think we will have to ask him to explain again when he gets up. He will have to tell us now" he said, hoping against hope that somehow they were wrong.

"Let's ask Sage one more time" Spinner said, unable to wait any longer.

They nodded and headed to Sage's office once again.

When they entered, Sage was typing furiously on her system.

"Something wrong Sage?" Vert asked.

Sage spun around quickly with a jump. "I was just about to call you in here. There is something within out walls. Something I cannot explain. I was checking our recent camera archives and found a shape hovering around. I feel as if it is a threat. There is a heaviness about this place ever since it arrived. I need to investigate further. Until then, I suggest we stay together as a group at all times."

She pulled up some files and showed them some security footage of their front door. It was them returning from Zeke's a few days ago. After everyone entered, a dark mass soon followed, slinking in unnoticed.

She glanced around the group. "Where is Zoom?"

Vert's belly dropped. He quickly left for Zoom's room at a concerned jog. He pushed through the door and saw a big black mass on top of Zoom. What looked vaguely like a mouth was gaping open, breathing Zoom's scent in. A large wet tongue slipped out and trailed up Zoom's cheek. As soon as it touched, Zoom's squirming and writhing frame went completely rigid.

Vert grabbed a shoe from the ground and threw it at the mass. It reared back in shock and then disappeared before him.

Vert ran over to Zoom, shaking his shoulders to wake him up.

Zoom groaned as his bruised eyes fluttered open, revealing his lingering terror.

"Vert, please! You're all sick, you need to _stop!_" he moaned, trying to pull away.

"Shhh Zoom! You're awake now, it's okay!" he tried to soothe.

Suddenly, for no apparent reason, Zoom's bedroom door slammed closed making them both jump.

The dark mass was blocking their entrance, disappearing before their very eyes.

**XXXXX**

Pounding could be heard on the other side of Zoom's door as the rest of the team tried to enter.

Vert tried the handle but it wouldn't budge.

"Vert? What's going on?" Zoom gasped, climbing out of bed on shaky legs.

Vert spun around to meet Zoom. "There is some entity in the building. Sage thinks it means us harm" he quickly explained, looking for something to jimmy the door open.

"Why are we trapped?" He said, padding on bare feet over to Vert. Before he could reach him, the black mass suddenly appeared behind Vert, engulfing him entirely.

"Vert!" Zoom yelled, urging himself forward to help. He was so wobbly.

He reached out a trembling hand to find Vert's but was thrown back by some unseen force.

Zoom fell to the floor, skidding back a few feet.

The pounding on the door intensified and suddenly Vert started screaming.

"Stop!" Zoom yelled at the blackness swirling around Vert. He looked around desperately, trying to find something to help. There were some throwing knives on his wall but he didn't want to risk hurting Vert. He saw a vase with some old flowers Agura had given the team a few weeks ago by his window.

He scrambled off the floor and retrieved the vase.

Vert's screaming then stopped. He was eerily quiet.

Zoom didn't wait any longer. He threw the vase's contents at the smoke, hoping something would happen.

It did

The blackness screeched and started swirling around the room, ruffling paper and making the window blinds smack against the wall. It looked as though Vert was absorbing the dark cloud.

As soon as this happened, Vert started screaming again, so Zoom ran to him, trying to catch him as he started falling towards the floor.

Zoom grunted under Vert's weight, falling with him and softening his landing.

He squeezed out from beneath him, lifting Vert's head into his lap.

Vert appeared to be unconscious.

Zoom tried tapping his cheek, calling his name softly.

He glanced around the room, looking for the 'entity' that Vert mentioned earlier.

Vert's eyes suddenly popped open.

Zoom's relieved sigh got caught in his throat when he saw that Vert's usually blue eyes had turned black.

"Vert?" he asked softly, unsure.

Vert blinked up at him with a blank look on his face.

He sat up suddenly, causing Zoom to have to dodge out of the way, rather than smack faces with him and earn himself another broken nose.

He got to his feet once again, unnerved that Vert still hadn't said anything.

"Are you alright? We have to get out of here" Zoom said, attempting to walk to his door.

Vert blocked his way, shoving him in the shoulders.

"Well well well. If it isn't little Zoom, all alone and defenceless" Vert suddenly said in a dreadfully familiar tone.

Zoom gulped, shaking his head in disbelief.

Was Vert sick again? He couldn't remember the team having black eyes when they were sick last time...

Zoom decided it must have something to do with the darkness that was in the room earlier.

He was suddenly aware that the pounding on his door had stopped and realised that he really was all alone right now, with Vert not acting himself.

"Aren't you going to say anything? You're so pathetic!" Vert taunted as Zoom backed behind his bed, shaking and at a loss of what to do.

The banging was back on his door now, and it made him jump.

He could faintly hear the team yelling that they were coming and to hold on. He didn't think he could wait much longer.

Zoom glanced at his knives again, thinking that if worst came to worst, he could use them to defend himself.

Unfortunately, Vert saw his eye movement and followed them to the wall next to them.

"What's this?"

Zoom closed his eyes briefly in disappointment as Vert reached for the knives inspecting them closely.

To Zoom's horror, Vert used one of the knives to cut a trail across his own hand.

"Vert! Stop! What are you doing?!" Zoom said, starting forward to stop the leader from hurting himself.

Vert grinned manically and threw one knife at Zoom's head.

It missed by a hairs width as Zoom threw himself to the side, colliding with the wall.

"This is fun Zoom!" Vert crowed happily and threw another knife.

This time it grazed Zoom's side, slicing easily through his thin shirt material and hitting skin.

Zoom grunted in pain. Before he had time to inspect the damage, he had to roll to the other side to miss another knife.

"You're a quick little thing" Vert said in annoyance as he missed again.

Finally Zoom's door opened, having been barged from the other side by the team.

"Guys, get out of the way!" Zoom said.

"Vert what are you doing?!" Agura screeched, at the same time as Zoom.

Vert grinned. He turned to face the team and threw a knife into the small crowd standing there.

They all yelled and dove for cover.

While Vert was distracted, Zoom dashed for the door.

Vert recovered quickly though and snatched the back of Zooms collar, halting him quickly.

He pulled Zoom back flush with his body and held the last throwing knife to Zoom's throat.

"Nobody move!" Vert bellowed.

The team had gotten up and were standing stock still. Zoom glanced around and couldn't see sage anywhere. He hoped she was working on how to fix this.

"Vert why are you doing this?" Agura pleaded quietly.

Zoom huffed and craned his neck back as the knife pressed against his skin, leaving a small cut.

"It isn't Vert. It can't be! Look at his eyes" Zoom announced angrily. Why was it that he was always the helpless one?

"That's right." Vert said, ruffling Zoom's dark hair. "I'm not the one you call Vert."

"Then who are you?" Stanford asked carefully.

"That doesn't matter. All that matters is that I have found a rich feeding ground to last me a lifetime." The Thing said, smelling the air.

Stanford's nose wrinkled in disgust. "What? You mean us? How dare you-"

Stanford was cut off by The Thing. " The emotions that you group of beings have projected are the tastiest I have ever known... Especially this one." It said, glancing down at Zoom.

"I have never been able to possess a being before. Until I started feeding off of you things" It said, leaning down to lick the side of Zooms face again.

Zoom made a disgusted noise and jerked his head away. Unfortunately that meant having the knife cut into his neck a little deeper, sending rivulets of blood running down his neck.

"Zoom, stop moving!" Sherman hissed.

"So what? You're just gonna eat us? As if we are gonna let that happen bucko!" Spinner said, puffing out his chest in defiance.

The Thing chuckled deeply, invigorated by his latest taste of his victim. It had to control itself to stop.

"You will stay in this place with me until I have fed on every last drop of negativity here, and then I will kill you. But not before I make you relive every bad thing that has ever happened to any one of you!" It explained in a creepily calm voice, taking the knife away from Zoom's neck and trailing it lazily down Zoom's arm, leaving a line of blood in its wake.

Zoom winced, but decided now was his only chance to possibly get away. He spun on the spot, and punched Vert as hard as he could in the jaw.

Any normal person would have gone down, but apparently with the entity within him, Vert was stronger than normal.

His head snapped to the side but nothing more occurred.

Vert's hand shot out and held Zoom around the neck, Vert's blood on his hand, mixing with the blood on Zoom's throat.

Zoom's hands shot up to scratch at Vert's but he was too strong.

"Do they know how they tortured you Zoom?" It said, not even looking at Zoom but at the team.

They were all pale and frozen to the spot.

"How they made you feel like nothing? They hated you! And do you know what I think? I think that deep down, they really do hate you!" It now hissed, it's attention back on Zoom.

Zoom's vision was blurring and out of the corner of his eye's he could see the team rush forward to try and help, only to be flung back like he had been when he initially tried to help Vert.

"You are going to die alone and no one will care" It whispered in his ear. The Thing then bit down on Zoom's ear hard, and with his free hand, plunged the knife into Zoom's thigh causing Zoom to scream all the breath that he had left in his lungs.

He couldn't draw breath, his chest burned and black spots were appearing in his line of vision.

Zoom was dropped to the floor without any warning then, gasping for air.

He could feel rain drops on his face and body. But that didn't make sense.

The roaring in his ears was battling with the sudden onslaught of screaming in the room.

Someone was pulling him up, and dragging him somewhere, but he was so tired.

The further he was dragged, the more aware he seemed to become.

He was in the hallway, and Stanford had him around the arms, dragging him backwards.

It seemed like the emergency sprinklers had been turned on. Everything was drenched.

He could see Agura and Sherman barricading his bedroom door closed with bits of furniture.

Then they were in Sage's infirmary. It seemed to be the only room without sprinklers on the roof.

He was hoisted up onto a bed and then Sage was in front of him looking worried as usual lately.

"You're okay now Zoom" she soothed, pressing a padding of white gauze on his ear and another over the hole in his leg.

"What's going on?" Zoom asked with a raspy voice.

"I activated the sprinklers. There was residue of the entity on the walls and I was working as fast as I could to find out what is lethal to it. After a few hours the water should draw it from Vert's body and kill it" She said, working on mopping up the blood from around Zoom's leg.

Zoom's breath hitched in pain.

Sage grimaced. "Zoom, you are losing a lot of blood. I need to stitch you up. Keep that gauze over your ear" she instructed, pulling out more medical supplies.

"You are one smart Sentient Sage!" Spinner said, making Zoom jump. He hadn't noticed Spinner and Stanford were in the room with them. His realised he mustn't be quite with it.

Sherman and Agura then swept in, looking concerned and dripping wet.

"He was fighting to get out for a while, but he eventually stopped" Agura said, rubbing her face.

Sherman started handing out towels to everyone.

"I can't believe he bit off Zoom's ear!" Spinner crowed, trying not to laugh and failing miserably.

Zoom grimaced and was about to tell him off when Sherman interrupted.

"Do you think you can just give it a rest for five minutes Spinner? Do you even remember what went down five minutes ago?!"

Sage was injecting something into Zoom's leg at this point, and everything got fuzzier.

Spinner sobered up somewhat, shrugging one shoulder guiltily.

He patted Zoom on the back in apology. "You know how I get buddy. I don't mean any harm. You know everything he said in there wasn't true right?" he said, gazing into Zoom's eyes.

Zoom hesitated trying to make sense of what Spin was saying. He eventually nodded, his head flopping back onto the bed.

"I have given him some pain medication while I fix his leg. I think it might be best if you all guard Zoom's bedroom door. There are some umbrellas over there" she nodded distractedly to the corner of the room.

Agura nodded in agreement. "Let's give Sage some room then guys." She ordered. Agura was the last to leave the room, turning back briefly to look at Zoom, "I think when we get Vert out, it will be about time you told us what happened those weeks ago, Zoom" She said gently.

Zoom nodded again, looking at his hands in his lap.

Sage got to work on Zoom's leg, talking quietly.

"I think I will be able to fix your ear easily Zoom" She said, and explained some futuristic looking gadget.

"It can replicate the area it is pointed at to some extent. Your ear should look almost the same when it is finished"

Once she was done with his leg, she got to work on Zoom's ear. At least an hour later she was wrapping the bandage around his head, then put some butterfly stitches on his neck and side and wrapped him up in bandages.

"Good as new" She said, half joking.

"What am I going to say to them" Zoom rasped out for the first time in the hour. The pain medication was wearing off and Zoom was beginning to think straight.

"Just tell them the truth this time Zoom" She said soothingly. "You will feel so much better when you have."

She checked her computer monitors and announced that Vert should be back to normal by now. She shut off the water and they left the room together, Zoom limping heavily.

As they approached, the rest of the team, who had been sitting in the hallway stood up and at a nod from Sage, began moving the barricades away.

They pushed the door open gently and peeked in.

Vert was lying on the floor, unconscious. They lifted him back to the infirmary and left sage to take a look. She assured them it was nothing serious. She also announced that there were no more traces of the entity.

Within the hour, Vert woke up, claiming to remember everything.

At Vert's insistence they all sat around the kitchen table to discuss what had happened.

Zoom was nervous. He knew he would have to tell them deep down, but he thought maybe he would be able to avoid it somehow.

"Are you sure you're alright Vert?" Zoom asked, peering at Vert's once again blue eyes. He had a large bruise from where Zoom had punched him on his jaw.

"Am _I_ okay?!" Vert exclaimed, sitting up straight in his chair in surprise. "I think the question is: are YOU okay?"

"I alright" he sighed.

"So, Zoom. Are you going to explain why we keep having flashbacks of us being" Sherman paused for a moment, searching for the right word, "... horrible to you?"

Zoom nodded and took a deep breath. Sage met his eyes from across the table and nodded encouragingly.

"When you all contracted the virus, it changed your behaviour. You were all having mood swings. Uh, whenever anyone came into contact with me, it would just get worse."

"That's why you're so jumpy when anyone touches you!" Stanford exclaimed.

Zoom nodded sadly.

"It got to the point where you became paranoid that I was trying to betray you. So you all tried to get rid of me for good" Zoom trailed off and there was silence.

"Did I really hit you in the face repeatedly?" Agura asked quietly.

"Yeah"

"Was it us that destroyed the Chopper?" Spinner asked.

Zoom nodded again.

"So we broke your arm and ribs and basically told you we hated you?" Vert asked, looking like he wished he never knew.

Zoom met his eyes. "Yes" He confirmed.

Zoom could see it in all the team mate's eyes. They felt terrible. They would never forgive themselves.

"Look guys, I know you weren't yourselves. It's okay, really. I've fixed the chopper and I'm all healed up... well you know" he said sheepishly as they all glanced at his battered frame.

"I don't want you to feel guilty. And Sage found the cure before any lasting damage could have been done"

Vert interrupts at this point. "Zoom, I think there _has_ been some emotional lasting damage. How will you ever trust us again?" he looked sick. "Especially after what just happened with that entity thing!"

Sage looked around the room. They were all quite miserable looking. "I think" she said slowly, "that time will eventually heal the mental wounds Zoom now has. This is just one of those situations that need time" she surmised.

Zoom nodded, agreeing.

"Honestly everyone, it's not a huge deal. The last thing I want is to be treated differently. Or you pitying me or tip toeing around my feelings. It's exactly why I didn't want to tell you to begin with. So please don't prove me right. I think that now you all know what went down, it's going to be okay. Just give me time. I promise" he said, trying desperately to cheer them up.

"I should have told you right from the start. It's just taken me a while to get there." He finished, looking slightly relieved. He rubbed his sore throat distractedly after his mini speech.

The room was silent a little more as his team mates attempted to process his words.

Not really seeing any way they could try and fix what happened, they were forced to accept it.

"Alright Zoom. We will try and move on from this. But you need to know that you _are_ part of our team. And without you, we wouldn't be complete. You have to believe us. We love you" Vert said, looking embarrassed.

Zoom blushed and looked at his feet.

Agura tipped his chin up so he would meet her eyes.

"We are really sorry for how we behaved Zoom. I know!" She went on, when Zoom opened his mouth to interrupt. "I know we couldn't control it. But it needs to be said. We would never ever do those things to you in our normal state of mind. So we are sorry that you had to go through it by yourself"

She then gave him a big hug. The rest of the team joined them in a big group cuddle.

"Alright, alright. That's enough guys" Zoom laughed. They all separated, and Spinner announced that they were all going to grab some pizza.

"I think Grace missed you last time" Vert said, nudging Zoom in the side.

"I don't think so!" Stanford piped up.

Everyone laughed and chattered as they made their way outside.

Zoom figured that Sage was right. He did feel a lot better now the rest of the team knew. He would have to take her advice more often.

**Epilogue**

Three months later.

The team's memories had started filtering back ever since the entity had fed from them.

Many of the team awoke screaming in terror at what they had done, or get wobbly when they had a flash back while awake.

Agura had dropped a plate when she remembered that they had hunted him down from the frozen planet.

When the details were clear in everyone's mind, they would often seek out the scout to have private conversations with him. Just to reassure themselves that he didn't hate them and to make sure in turn that he knew that he was loved.

Zoom didn't particularly like re-living the memories with his team, but he could see that talking about it was helping them move on.

He supposed he was getting better as well. He was flinching less and the memory/dreams weren't happening every few night like they had been after the attack.

Zoom stood in his room in front of his mirror, inspecting his ear. It did look pretty normal as Sage had promised; just a slight dip at the very tip. And his leg wasn't aching nearly as much anymore.

After some research, Sage had discovered that the entity had passed through a small storm shock which hadn't registered on her sensors due to its small size.

Zoom gulped at the thought of ever having to travel to the place that Thing had come from. The thought of a world full of those things, feeding off of other living creatures was too fresh for the Scout to think about.

Sage's voice was suddenly heard over the speaker system.

"Storm Shock in 10 minutes. Suite up guys"

Zoom took a deep breath.

"Zoom?" Zoom's head snapped to the door behind him where Vert was watching worriedly. "You ready?"

Zoom mentally shook himself, the familiar thrill of riding a Storm Shock starting to register within him.

"Yeah. I'm good" he replied, walking out with Vert.

For now, he would try not to worry about it.

**The End.**


End file.
